Marathon effort for best friend

A Daventry man plans to run 11 marathons in 11 days to raise awareness of a condition which affects his best friend of 15 years.

Andy Humphries, 27, hopes the Man vs Miles challenge will help more people understand the impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) after his friend, Dan Hughes, 25, was diagnosed with the condition in 2009.

Mr Humphries said: “Not a lot of people understand MS. Dan gets funny looks when he parks in disabled parking bays because people don’t understand that there’s something wrong. He also gets tired a lot more than other people do but tries to live as much of a normal life as possible.

“I hope raising awareness through this challenge will explain MS a bit more to people.”

My Hughes said his condition affected his life so much that he was ready to give up trying but found a reason to fight after the birth of his son 18 months ago.

He said: “I struggle with fatigue more than anything else and because of my age people just think I am lazy or that I’m laying around. It has taken me four years to accept my condition because when I relapse it can be quite bad and I lose feeling and movement in the left side of my body.

“Having my son has changed my life, he’s everything and now the long-term goal is get back into work.”

Mr Hughes will attempt one marathon alongside his friend who is running the 11 marathon distance from Hayle in Cornwall to Daventry starting on July 24.

Helping the men will be sports therapist Martyn Standish and coach Luke Aubrey, both of Daventry, training the men using ice baths and deep tissue massage for the challenge.

The men can be sponsored to via their Just Giving page, visit www.justgiving.com/andyhumphries or facebook page www.facebook.com/manvsmiles11 for more information.